The Flames grabbed their lead back before the second period was over when dangerous defenceman Bradley Lalonde finished neatly at 38.40.

Luciani’s second of the evening tied the game just ahead of the halfway mark (29.23), his tenth of the regular season being a highlight reel goal poked home with just one hand on his stick.

Like Wednesday in their sensational comeback and progression to the Challenge Cup Sem-Finals, the Blaze showed their fighting spirit and got back to within one before the end of the first period with Alessio Luciani scoring on a loose puck in front to make it 2-1 at 6.35.

The in-form home side found themselves in an early hole as the Flames scored two early through Austin Glover (00.32) and Peter Crinella (4.29). The Giants looked to have secured their place in the last four when Quinn Preston rifled home at 41.12 before Eriksson grabbed his second of the night at 43.42 to hand Belfast a four-goal lead.The Genting Casino Coventry Blaze were beaten 2-3 in the Elite League by Guildford Flames in their final home game before Christmas.īlaze began the game with Canadian Taran Kozun in net backed up by countryman Nolan Kent who was able to enter the line-up in the absence of import forward Mitch Cook. Blaze dumped defending champions Belfast out of the Cup with a dramatic shootout victory as JD Dudek scored the winning penalty after Coventry netminder Taran Kozun saved all five of Giants’ attempts at the SSE Arena.Ĭoventry will play Sheffield Steelers in the semi-finals with dates for the two-legged tie to be confirmed in due course.Īfter playing out a 1-1 draw at the Skydome Arena in the first leg, Belfast edged ahead at 16.26 through Ara Nazarian who redirected Cameron Pound’s shot into the top corner.Īnd after Kozun made two crucial saves at the start of the second period, Henrik Eriksson doubled Belfast’s lead at 33.23 despite Blaze coach Danny Stewart calling for a time-out moments earlier. COVENTRY Blaze produced a sensational third period comeback from four goals down to reach the Challenge Cup semi-finals with a 6-5 aggregate victory against Belfast Giants.

Genting casino coventry blaze